


Is This Inspiration

by killavampire



Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: DISCONTINUED FOR NOW BECAUSE I AM LAZY, Hurt/Comfort, Some angst, fluffy bits too, i dont really know what im doing but its fun, if there is gonna be some violence i'll warn in the notes before, ive realized im an angsty human being but this is fun so, minecraft personalities!!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:48:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23903389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killavampire/pseuds/killavampire
Summary: The world is forever changing and ever expanding, just like peoples perceptions of it. We might not start off smart, but we damn will end it off saying that we gave the world our best shot.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 51





	1. How this Universe Works

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter is a boring description of how the world works :p

Each server is a different world, and each world is controlled by a panel of gods that keeps the world functioning. For example the Mindcrack server is a different world run by different gods compared to the Hermitcraft server. They are all in the same universe, but travelling between the two is impossible without some supernatural interventions. 

To communicate with these gods, one person is chosen to be a conduit or a sorta like a prophet. They give up part of their energy and sometimes led their body to the gods in exchange of the world to run smoothly and to communicate with the gods. This is my replacement for the admin dynamic!

To create a new world there are whats called Nature Bonds. They were chosen to be non-permanent conduits for the gods down to the world so they can create the world. It seemed silly for one person to single handedly create the entire world so it got split up into different biomes. These people aren't directly connected to the biomes, just get to help out. 

I hope that all makes sense!! :D


	2. A New World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hermits have decided it is time for a new world. As every hermit prepares to various levels, for the transition isn't too easy for some.

Xisuma felt the crunching heat of the lava flow next to him. The cool damp nature of the underground overpowered by the shear heat and energy contained by the molten rock. His helmet and armor warming to the scorching rays.

“To another world.” he whispered, slowly watching those shiny blue minerals he worked so hard for disintegrate under the glowing orange and yellow flow. It was just as rewarding as it was disheartening to watch it all disappear. A message to the World Creators they were ready for new lands. X was the once one who could speak with the World Creators, these god figures who controlled it all. They were kind and gave each live thing the chance to prosper, but harsh in the requirements to hear their message. X felt the ever present strain of their hardships, he was their conduit to the world. When the Creators were overworked, he could feel his own energy waste away and when they struggled to create peace to keep nature itself running smoothly his mind and body also took a toll. It was a constant struggle to figure out how to help make the World Creators be able to live a peaceful life, but he didn’t regret it at all. He found the ability to hear into a different plane of existence quite fascinating and blessed that he could always try his best to help them. It wasn’t a job many could handle for long, but he never backed down from a challenge.

As the last diamond disappeared into the lava, Xisuma felt free. And nervous, but nervous wouldn’t be the correct term. His sacrifice to the World Creators told them that everyone who lived in the land was ready for change. He felt their presence swarm around him like silk cloth pulling and tightening against his body. Feathery whisps against his neck that sent rattling shivers down his spine and a gaping hole in his stomach as the absolute unpredictability of the future nipped his heart and clawed at his shoulders. The process was comforting at best, to know that his wish had followed through and overpowering at worst. Each muscle tightened to an uncomfortable degree unable to cope with the energy of these other beings. He felt his lungs fighting against his ribs. Desperately trying to get enough air. He dropped to the ground, squeezed like an orange for the last drop of its juice. And as suddenly as it came, the energy faded away. He could feel the cool air again. The thrum of his heartbeat slowly returned to a normal pace instead of a hare's mad dash. The breeze of an open mineshaft seemed to tickle his racing heart as he pulled himself up using the oak supports to hull himself up. It was done. A new world could be born.

\----

The winds of the world bristled every blade of grass it could reach with outstretched arms. The trees themselves seemed to suck in and hold their breath to hear the seconds pass. The sky reverberated like the inside of a drum when lightly tapped. It spun the head and filled the heart with hope and terror that transferred to every bone. A new world was to be born again. It was a sign clear as day to each of the eleven Nature Bonds.

The gods of the land lacked the ability to create the world without having a physical conduit to pour themselves into. To take on a task as momentous as creating a new world, they had all chosen a select few to lend their bodies to these creations the same way X does for most tasks. But to pour the energy needed to create a world into a single person would destroy them, therefore the Nature Bonds were created.

And that's why they gathered at spawn once more. TFC sat true north representing the mountains and hills going clockwise sat Scar for the mooshroom islands, Joe for the desert, Tango for the nether, xB for the savannah and mesa, Cub for the plains and forests, Cleo for the swamp, Stress for all snow and ice related, Keralis for the oceans and rivers, False for the end and Ren next to TFC for the jungle. X sat awkwardly in the middle, staring at all of his friends who were imposingly on a patch to represent their biome making them all much taller than him. Even Keralis decided to sit in a glass box filled with water to be tall. X broke out the awkward laugh.

“This is quite the sight isn’t it? If I didn’t know any better I would say this is ritual sacrifice!”, he laughed.

False gave that a chuckle. “In a way, this is very much ritual sacrifice X. We should be very scared.”

“Oh shush! I don’t look that ridiculos during these events.” he replied staring up at his friends who seemed to be enjoying their raised stature over X. Ren was hopping and dancing on his jungle tree stump so enthusiastically, it was a miracle he hadn’t fallen off it yet.

“Mindcrackers and Grian bunkered down yet?” Stress asked through her communicator, trying to get this show on the road before Ren made a short film out of their situation.

“Yup”

“Yuppers”

“Heck yeah”

“Born ready”

Doc, Etho, Bdubs and Beef shouted back.

“I still don’t understand why this is necessary. Why can’t I just hang around above ground with Mumbo and everyone else?” Grian asked back. The five were all huddled in the stronghold which provided less than comfortable conditions for sitting around in. The stone was cold and unwelcoming and the air seemed to clog the nose with a damp feel and musty scent. Grain grumpily exhaled the horribly scented air once more.

“Oi, Grian.” Doc sighed back. “You can go above ground and have the universe play ping pong with your body between worlds or you could stay down here and be thankful that Etho and I learnt that lesson for you.”

“There is something very unpleasant about having you stomach light years away from your stomach while being extremely nauseous.” Etho shivered, staring blankly into the wall in front of him. Those who were originally from the domain of different gods had a much harder time making the transition than those who lived under the domain of the same gods their entire explorational life. Each transition seemed to be a struggle between the two gods for which world the soul should be placed in. And thanks to some lab rat testing with Doc and Etho, they had figured out that staying in the stronghold seemed to keep them firmly in the hands of one set of gods being a location of dimensional transport; it functioned as a world traveling space shuttle for the group.

“I suppose the EVO guys won’t take a liking to finding one of my kidneys in the middle of town square.” Grian shivered, thoroughly offset by Etho and Doc’s monotonous tone. It was strange for everyone involved to see the two usually steadfast geniuses filled with inner glow from soul and redstone eyes fading into oblivion. Doc's electronic eye seemed to be almost matte and Etho refused eye contact with everyone except silverfish in the stone

“I take that as an okay?”, Stress called in, not having overheard the conversation not spoken through communicators.

“All good down here!” Beef zapped back, with a ting less enthusiasm that couldn’t be picked up by the communicators. The heavy atmosphere seemed to get to him as well.

“I supposed we shall proceed then.” X replied with a deep breath. Clearing his throat he looked around at the sturdy souls of his friends around him. He felt a surge of thankfulness he had such an amazing group with him. Falses wide smile and determination shining through her eyes, Joe's absolute nonchalant nature about the entire situation and Tango and Rens excited hops. He could never have asked for a better group of friends to help him through this.

“Hippity, hoppity, the new world will be our property.”

“Who said..? Nevermind.”, X laughed. Here goes nothing.

He began to murmur to the Creator’s phrases he was told to recite but didn’t understand, yet meaning still held fast in each syllable. Excited whoops could be heard from the nearby island where the rest of the hermits were. But X was too focused to hear anything else but the whispers of the ethereal being in his mind. The energy prickled the back of his skull and the familiar anxious feeling rose and floated through his chest. With each word a bit more of his body was taken over. First went his legs, the loss of control climbed its way up his body. At the same time his shoulders relaxed until they seemed to leave him all together. His jaw and vocal chords began to seize up until the words were being spoken by a voice that was no longer his. He opened his eyes to the world again watching the world slowly fade with his hearing, until it all went blank.

To the outside perspective X seemed to go from his slouched position on the ground and begin to rise. The glowing started with his helmet's visor and took over the rest of him. He still rose off the ground until he reached a final height a meter or so off the ground. Then his voice became replaced. But it wasn’t by a single voice, but instead every pitch imaginable. The world itself spoke to them all. Then that energy shot into each of Nature Bonds. Even though they had all done this before, fear shot through all of them hot with the intensity of a full barrel of adrenaline pumping straight into the heart. The energy climbed quickly up through their legs as the choking feeling closed around their necks. And just like X they watched the world fade away to nothingness.

“Just as awkward as ever.” Iskall commented as the rest of the hermits powerlessly observed the strange sight.

“Wait, I can glow too!” Jevin announced.

An unanimous huh spread through the group.

Jevin flicked the lever next to him and the redstone lamp he sat on gave sprung to life. A blue hue now present from Jevins self illumination. This won some laughs out of the group.

“All in a day's work!” Jevin chuckled.

Back inside the stronghold, Grian pressed himself farther into the corner as the world like a stage 10 earthquake. He had Bdubs next to him while Doc, Etho and Beef sat in the corner opposite of them by the stronghold entrance.

“It’s okay man,” Bdubs reassured him. “this is absolutely terrifying.”

“No kidding!” Grian spat out, suddenly a thousand times more grateful for the others lab rat testing of this. He was paralyzed with fear already without having his guts ping ponged across the galaxy.

At the other corner Doc also pushed his back into the corner, but he shrunk a lot less into the wall compared to Grian and his short-stuff demeanor and instead Doc looked to be breaking his back into the wall. Etho had his eyes closed tight, his usual calamity and cheer replaced with unfiltered fear he clutching onto anything he could. Etho’s head was pressed into Doc's lab coat and arm wrapped across his friend's body, knuckles turning white. He clung on like it was his only thing keeping him from flying into certain death. Beef tried to help the best he could, holding Ethos right shoulder empathetically as the world continued to shake ever harder. Doc stared at the ground, eyes glazed fighting an invisible battle. The end portal frames began to break. The sound was terrible and sharp as if they were in a fishbowl being smashed into the ground, the sound of shatter glass was inescapable. Bdubs and Beef took the brunt of the shockwaves as each portal shrieked. The sounds of screams masked with each wave of terror. The roars of destruction were suddenly silenced by the same wave of unconsciousness that took the rest of their friends, the five felt liquid void drown them.

The new world is to be born.

\----

Mumbo, Iskall, Hypno, Impulse, Jevin, Zed and Biffa felt gritty sand pushing into their faces and palms. The blaring ocean sun shining down like a fish fry.

Zed slowly opened his eyes, squinting like a crab hiding in its shell. “Well that’s new.”.

A bit away from their sandy spot was a mushroom island that stretched as far as the eye could see.

“Well would you look at that!” Scar shouted overjoyed. “I helped that beauty over there and it's quite magnificent if I do say so myself!”.

“The rest better get here fast so we can go out explorin’!”, Ren chuckled, eyeing up the great beyond. “Who knows how long those fools will take.”.

“What happens in the stronghold stays in the stronghold.” Etho stated pushing himself off the wall with a shaky breath. He still appeared extremely shaken, but in comparison to only moments before much better off. With that welcome and familiar glint of mischief in his eye he continued “Why don’t you four head into the portal while I remember how to use my legs again.”. He began slowly inching up off the floor, back and arms pressed securely into the wall behind him for support. Doc had already gone over to the end portal to make sure it was a new world.

“Yup, no eyes of ender here.” Doc told them all.

Grian looked around at everyone puzzled; they were much more experienced than he was. Bdubs and Beef gave Etho a questioning smile, and he replied with a nod. Bdubs then clapped Grian on the back of the back accompanied with a puff of dust and an oof.

“The World Creator people don’t want us knowing where the stronghold is,” Bdubs explained, “ so they have this endgate looking thing on the overworld to take us to spawn. It will disappear once we are all through and is really quite convenient for all of us except Falsie.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t worry, you’ll spot what I mean no problem!” Bdubs laughed, handing an enderpearl to each person in the room. A convenient 5 were left in a chest next to the endgate. “Just follow me!”. He chucked his enderpearl straight into the shapeless space in front of them, zipping to who knows where.

“Really?” Grian asked. Looking around confused as ever. “I’m so glad I didn’t have to deal with this under the EVO dominion. I can barely process this fast enough. What a rollercoaster.”.

“Well they don’t say the first time is the charm at all, do they?” Doc replied.

“Not quite how either saying goes, but it works I guess.” Beef laughed. “Come on now, no need to keep them waiting too long!”. Beef threw his enderpearl in, followed by Grian who glanced around as if crossing the road before he leapt.

With the other three gone, the fake smiles slide off Doc and Ethos faces. Doc's leg uncontrollably bouncing which he managed to hide behind the stone structure of the end portal frame. Ethos arms were still trembling in the same unpleasant sensation that came with loss of control.

“It’s over now Doc.” Etho choked out from under his breath. He’s eyes held the look of someone who hadn’t slept for days, but instead had to live through the nightmares each night “You are good. You always have and always will be amazing no matter what they make you believe.”. Doc met Ethos gaze with a tired and empathetic expression.

“And I’m alive. We are all alive Etho.” Doc whispered back.

They slide into masks of confidence to hide what the others should never know before vanishing into the portal to meet back with the rest.

\----

“There they are!” shouted Impulse. The hermits all turned to the direction Impulse was pointing, where sure enough their friends rained in from the sky into the ocean. First came Bdubs, who less than gracefully attempted to dive into the ocean beneath, but only the only success that came of the attempt was successfully soaking Jevins clothes in seawater. A few seconds later Beef and Grian came tumbling out of the sky. Beef landed in the water and Grian flopped in like a screaming chicken. Their heads emerged from the water, out of breathe but still managing to laugh as they glided over to the spawn island.

“Oh I see what you mean about False and X.” Grian observed between breathes. The two were still glowing, X covered in white light and False in purple light. They seemed oddly at peace and almost to float off the ground in positions too awkward to stand without falling.

With a snap and a splash Doc and Etho joined the group. False and X came to settle to the ground and the glowing stopped. The gang was back together.

X finally could feel the energy slowly leave his body. Like a drop of molasses of a spoon he fell back into reality and the comforts of his own body. It is easy to take for granted how nice it is to be connected to be able to feel the world through nerve endings until it’s taken away. The sun was absolutely piercing, its rays reflecting off the shattered blue waves like glass. But besides those discomforts, X was overjoyed. They were all back where they belonged, together as friends. He glanced to his left seeing False wear the same enthusiastic grin. She had to stay in the creation coma for longer being nature bonded to the end. It was necessary to create the strange portal that brought back their friends in far away places each time. Such a familiar sight. People laughing and taking in the scenery, others drenched in salty water and the clean pure feeling of a new world around him once more. Impulse, Tango and Zedaph seemed to already be plotting despite not even having crafting tables. Hypno was swimming out to the nearest island to get some trees as Joe jokingly bragged about the beach he helped create to Cleo, who could care less but still enjoyed the chatter. Groups and missions firing like a plasma globe. That's what made it all worthwhile.

\----

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! :D I hope it isn't too terrible of a first chapter :p. I was thinking of maybe adding in Biffa, but I need to get his dynamic with the group down a bit better! Some hermits won't be as involved as others, but I'll try to get some spotlight time in for most of them! I tried not to tag the ones that won't be mentioned too much. Thank you for reading my brain spazz ;D


	3. That's An Issue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As all the hermits begin to settle down. They learn that plans are going to need to change, and change fast.

“Who let the ocean be so wet.” Grian groaned, wringing out the sleeves of his sweater. The cottony material absorbed water like a pro and wasn’t letting go without a fight. The situation wasn’t being aided by the cold ocean breeze that flew through the group of boats chilling him to the bone. TFC, Jevin and Mumbo all had a boat to themselves and Grian hitched a ride with Scar on their adventure to find some good land. 

“Please empty the seawater out the side of the boat and not in the boat. It’s getting my shoes all wet.” Scar commented. 

“There isn’t a single part of me that isn’t soaked.” Grian huffed in response. 

“Mhm hm…”

“But manners are manners. I don’t wanna get booted off this dingy.”. 

“I’m glad you are the Grian baby sitter this time Scar.” Mumbo laughed.

“Hey, I’m not that bad!” Grian laughed. 

“My sandals would say differently.” Scar responded in quick succession. 

“I see land!” Jevin announced before any more banter could break loose. And true to his word, the outline of land was beginning to peak its way into their field of view. Snowy mountain tops inched their way over the horizon along with rolling plains. There was even a swamp. 

“I think I wanna to challenge the swamp this time around.” Jevin chirped.

“But the grass!” Scar gasped. “It’s basically grey! And everything is so mushy”.

“Maybe a cool underground bunker sorta situation.” Jevin smiled, the gears churning in his head already. 

“Those mountains look absolutely gorgeous over there. I think that's the direction I wanna go. What do you think Grian?” Scar asked, mesmerized by the towering peaks that presented themselves.

“Sounds good to me!” Grian added in, also getting lost in the possibilities of the cliffside. 

“I think I’ll head over to the plains and mountains area and look for a good old cave.” TFC smiled.

“Am I boring to just head into the plains?” Mumbo asked. “I mean it would be so much easier. You guys have fun clearing land in the mountains. Terraforming is gonna be minimal over at my base of operations.”.

“Yes Mumbo, that is very boring.” Grian laughed. “But I’m sure you’ll make it amazing.”.

Mumbo sighed, “I’m really not sure if I should be offended or complimented by that statement.”.

The four boats began to diverge, Jevin into the swamp, Mumbo and TFC to the plains and Grian and Scar making their way down the mountainous coastline. Each heading into a expanding realm of possibility.

\----

Tango admired the fields of rich green around them. Never ending fauna that stretched towards the horizon and beyond encapsulating their own little section of space time. Tall grass and orchids performed a dance together with the wind as cattle grazed the greenery, oblivious to the transformation that would doubtlessly tear through the land. 

“I have a flint and steel!” shouted Zedaph from the sandy beach side. He waved around the object triumphantly gesturing to his friends. Impulse gave a more confused than amused grin and Tango laughed along with Zed. The three had decided to take upon the adventure of discovery together. So far that meant an excess of dead cod, deforestation of the kelp, drowned boats and nearly drowned friends. But hey, where’s the fun in using a boat normally?

“Why are we using our iron on that?” Impulse sighed giving a worried head shake and laugh.

“Don’t worry, it’s an essential tool to commit arson.” Zed replied, heading up away from his gravel pit and towards the soft grass instead. 

“The creator peoples should have calmed the effects of fire so it dies before causing damage.” Impulse informed the two. “And let's not be the ones to test it.”. 

“Yeah! What fun is a flint and steel if it isn’t being used to make a giant kaboom!” Tango added throwing around their singular piece of gunpowder.

The trio made their way into the forest. They swerved around grand oaks that hung with age and even stopped for some apples along the journey to find the perfect place to call home. 

“Why does it still smell like stinking fish when we are already miles away from the ocean?” Tango groaned. Zed snickered, pulling out stacks upon a stack of gloopy dark green mush.

“I brought more snacks!” Zed laughed as a disgusted look overtook over his friend's faces. 

“Kelp!” Impulse laughed even more confused than before “That's the worst food we could possibly bring. We can’t even eat it without it being cooked and as Tango said it stinks!”

“I’m starting to question my choices.” Tango remarked eyeing the mess with disgust.

“Now come on guys. This is great! We can build up a campsite and roast kelp.” Zedaph laughed. 

With no better ideas besides throwing the kelp on the ground to deal with itself, they put together a fun patchwork campsite in the middle of the woods. Three beds surrounded an obnoxious pile of furnaces filled with iron, mutton and of course the kelp. A ridiculous scene, but a starting base nonetheless. 

\----

X trudged his way through the oppressive jungle landscape. The group he travelled with had quickly broken apart when they all hit land. Etho immediately headed towards the green grass of the jungle. X had travelled farther up the island to see what he could find, and all he seemed to be discovering was that the jungle was huge. Cleo, Joe and xB headed off in the other direction ready for their own adventures. All X really wanted was a nice hut to call home for the first night. The strain of it all was being to take its toll. Even though it was only a bit past noon, X could feel the heavy weights of exhaustion pulling down on his eyes. 

Eventually a cave opening could be found ready to provide some coal and iron. 

“Thank goodness.” X thought to himself. He would at least be able to light up the wooden starter shack a little. Then the communicator gave off it’s signature crackle. 

**General**  
**< TangoTek> I have spotted a large problem.**

“Huh?”, X muttered looking up from his shack. Problems already, that was never good.

**< Xisuma> oh no, what is it  
<Zedaph> a large problem**

Very helpful Zed. 

**< TangoTek> I think the nether has somehow got itself into the overworld. lava, netherrack the whole shabang **

This was very not good. 

X eventually made his way across the world to the nether filled ravine in question. True to their word there was a ravine filled with lava and covered in netherrack. The otherwise peace of the village shattered with a gaping pit of hell cutting through their farm. 

“I guess I’ll have to try and ask the creators about this, first day problems just got to a whole new level.” X stated, taking in the absurd scene. 

“You should be able to help, right Tango? Nether conduit and all.”

“Maybe?” Tango replied, gears churning on how he could even accomplish the feat. “Nobody has ever done that before besides you.”

“Just stick out your arm arm like mine, hopefully that's enough of an energy bond for me to try and bring you up.” X demonstrated. “Just open your mind I suppose, it's not something that is easy to describe. It’s more of an instinct than it is a lesson plan.”

“Anything we can do to help?” asked Impulse, who was thoroughly lost in the ridiculousness of events. 

“Yes actually. There is a chance that we will have a hard time reconnecting ourselves to this world. Splash a bucket of water on us if it takes more than 5 minutes.” X explained.

“Will do.”. Impulse nodded, taking some of the newly gathered iron to make a bucket of all things. 

“And you said making a flint and steel was a waste of iron.” Zed stated, trying to lower tensions a bit. 

“You ready Tango.” X asked, ignoring the statement.

“Ready as I’ll ever be!”

“Then let's go.”. 

What a sight to see. To an oblivious onlooker it would appear that the four of them were having a picnic that consisted of only a bucket of water while sitting next to a cake slice of hell. X and Tango were sat cross legged with their right arms sticking out, facing each other with their eyes closed in deep focus. Impulse and Zed loitering around them, nervously tapping the water bucket and eyeing the pit of death that stretched out to their left. 

The air switched from a warm spring breeze to frosty in a heartbeat. The contrast in air temperature creating a mini whirlwind at the ravines edge. The familiar glowing purple slowly covering X’s form once more. The energy sparked and jumped like static under a dry blanket leaving flashes of bright lavender light staining Zed and Impulses sight. The wind picked up, whipping the water around the bucket. Even a few of the usually idle villagers heading into their homes during the confusion. Xisuma’s expression was unreadable behind his mask and the whipping light. Tango, on the other hand, seemed completely bewildered and lost with little more than red sparks jumping off him like rabbits. His expression shifted to disoriented fear until after little more than a minute his eyes flew open with fear glowing red hot with alarm. Confused, Zed and Impulse tried to ask what was going on as Tango took a couple distressed glances around to reorient himself to his surroundings before yelling.

“Water! Throw the water!”. 

Impulse blinked a bit, but didn’t wait to ask questions. Impulse splashed the water bucket all over X. With a gasp, X’s head flew back. The winds halted their horseplay and the purple light evaporated. 

“Oh no.” X whispered between shuttering breathes. 

“What is it?” Zed asked, bewildered.

X seemed to not even hear the question before asking one himself, ‘Tango, what did you see?”.

Tango shuddered, “There was nothing but a monotone void. I couldn’t escape until I heard a voice that shook the world yell at me that we needed to get out as fast as possible. Then I was back on here.”.

“I can still feel the words ringing in my head and that overwhelming grey.”. 

Questioning glances turned themselves to X, waiting for his side of the story. 

X breathed out, “Give me a moment to compose my words properly. I don’t want to cause a panic.”.

“Those are worrying words.” Zed commented, laughing awkwardly in an attempt to break the horrible tension pressing even harder down on all of them. The joke wasn’t even received apparently. 

“I went to the usual place I see. A grand meeting room I won't even get into describing, except it seemed to be completely trashed. Broken vases and shattering picture frames hanging askew. Also, I could barely feel the presence of them there. There was only one. She said they were attacked and that the world was about to undergo some sort of war. We would be much more on our own until the war is over. The water got me back in this world just as horrible footsteps came down the halls. I don’t want to meet what or who ever makes such a terrifying sound.”. 

“So, we have to deal with this stuff ourselves now.”. Impulse murmured trying to process the effects that war between gods would have on them. 

“I’ll relay the information to everyone. This information definitely calls for a future meeting. You guys just try to settle down for now or deal with the lava before someone falls in. Sorry to leave in a rush, but I need to do some investigating.”. X rambled on.

“Don’t worry about us. We are all in this together.” Zed said trying once more to alleviate the very downtrodden mood. 

“Thank you.” X smiled, looking up at his friends before taking off running back to the shore. 

The three wallowed in the confusion for a moment to process the events. 

“I say we just dirt over the ravine and leave a sign.” says Zed, standing up and dusting off his knees. “Before any of us suffer a horrific death by lava.”.

“Seems good for now!” Tango added, attempting to smile through the heavy worry that was weighing all of them down. The three of them got to work, covering the ravine in a thin facade of normality. 

\----

The face, the noise, the scene. X couldn’t get it out of his head as he rowed over to Doc’s location. Whenever he communicated with the creators, he could feel their presence in the neatly assembled office room. It always appeared immaculate, not a speck of dust to be found and sometimes they would shift themselves down to a viewable humanoid form. Even when they did that, they always appeared untouchable by any destructive force, like nature itself. But when X went to that room, it was in more than disarray. Holes riddled the walls that seemed as if made by bullets and any sense of safety drained from it dry. In there he couldn’t feel anyone at all, but he saw one of the creators. She lay hiding against an overturned cabinet, drops of amber seeping out of wounds. Her usual green skin covered in twirling designs of lushious ivy turning grey and brown. The worst was the hopelessness that weighed down the entire room, compressing hope to the point of destruction. When she saw X appear, sadness and pity overtook her expression. And in his mind she spoke.

“You and the people of your world must fend for yourselves into the foreseeable future.” she communicated in such a way that contained the softness and care of a mother holding an infant. Her compassion radiated through the statement, bringing the feeling of tears to X’s chest at what could possibly be going on or happened to her. “You are all gifted, it is just the key that has to be found. With it those gifts war will be survivable and you can keep each other safe from the penetrating evil.”. X’s own questions were shushed to let the message sink in, an evil was raining in from different dimensions or even universes possibly. X’s head spun with what it could all mean. 

“Stay safe, always stay in at least groups of two. We will reign victorious.”. She smiled, weak but true. It all shattered down with enormous footsteps that shook the room. A great shadow edged it’s way to X’s mind, he could see the other begin to regenerate into her godly form. “Go.” she whispered as the crashing got louder. The shadows began to tear at his mind, covering all thought with screams as the word go echoed through his head with inescapable force. The splash of water was the only thing that brought X back to the real world. He had his plan, talk with those who knew most about the dealings of other dimensions and the gods. Then set up a meeting to relay the information to all. He didn’t know how fast this needed to be accomplished, but he still rowed as fast as he could. 

**To: Docm77  
<Xisuma> im at the shore  
<Docm77> okay  
<Docm77> ill meet you there**

Doc emerged from the dense undergrowth and dark oak trees to see X pacing the shoreline, head down in deep thought.

“Hey man!”, Doc waved. “What’s going on?”. X jumped a bit at the sudden noise earning a small chuckle from Doc. 

“It’s not good.”. The two headed back into the forest to a clearing and similarly rushed small wooden shack Doc had built himself, although his was much more put together than X’s abandoned half built one in the jungle. X explained exactly what he saw, not leaving out details like he did for the other three. Through the explanation Doc’s mildy intrigued attitude turned to one of immense concern. 

“I don’t know much more than you in this case. My guess is that there are some sort of evil spirits dropping into the world of the creators that requires all of their time to handle. This would likely impact the politics of their world as well.” Doc explained. 

“Sometimes the creators get very attached to the people in their world like those and I know they sometimes argue over us like property. It’s great that these creators see us more as living things and not props. But other creators might take this as an opportunity to take some of us away.” Doc elaborated on him, then he paused. 

“She said that we should stick in at least pairs, right?” Doc asked. 

“Yeah,” X replied “It slipped my mind when I was heading here.”

“Ren!” Doc noticed with a joult. He had left his friend in the nearby mesa to go over to meet with X. 

“I don’t want to figure out any details on why we should be in pairs with such high risk.” Doc said getting up from their spot in his little cabin and heading west towards the mesa. 

Perhaps when they were alone it was easier for the individual to be stolen away. Maybe they were under some sort of protection that could only be kept up for those close enough to each other. They found the real reason with Ren slumped against a tree. There was a black ring of corroding ground forming around him and the usually perky man completely unresponsive to his name staring deep into the void. 

“Ren!” Doc shouted again. 

“Toss water on him?” X suggested in the panic. They grabbed a bucket, filled it with water from the small sugarcane farm and splashed it all over Ren. He didn’t move at all. But there was the hiss sound of evaporating water as it hit the black circle. The circle seemed to shift and shrink at the splash. So X threw another bucket at it. The hissing continued, but this time the circle held fast. 

“I’m just gonna grab him!” Doc said.

“But what if-” X started, but Doc wasn’t leaving any time for discussion this time acting on the instinct to help his friend. Doc pulled Ren out of the black circle. When he did so the creeping black let out a great shriek and evaporated into nothing. Slowly Ren began to look around. 

‘Who, huh, what?” Ren mumbled in confusion looking at the panicked faces in front of him. “Is this, real?”.

“We don’t know what happened and yes this is real.” Doc replied, hand on Ren’s shoulder. 

“There was just darkness and screaming. It was terrible.” Ren stated, voice null of its usual boundless energy. Doc looked at X raising his eyebrow. X took in the information before noticing something of great importance. 

“Oh my goodness!” X shouted and pulled out his communicator.

**General**   
**< Xisuma> Everyone!! Please stay with at least one other person for safety reasons!  
<hypnotizd> huh, ok  
<Xisuma> Lets do a headcount. I’m with Ren and Doc.  
<ImpulseSV> still with Tango and Zed  
<ZombieCleo> I’m with xB and Joe, we can go back for Etho  
<GoodTimesWithScar> Grian and I are still boating around  
<MumboJumbo> I’ll join TFC, Jevin you too?  
<iJevin> I’ll head over  
<Stressmonster101> going to doc’s forest nobody else around me**

More and more messages rolled in and eventually it was determined that everyone was safe and accounted for. The group of four with Stress added to the team polished up Ren’s area. Choosing the easier to brighten up mesa than the mess of branches and leaves filled with lurking monsters or Doc’s forest home. As the sun set for the first night plans were made to meet back up at the original island. There was much to discuss. 

\----

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't do the bEST proof reading but yknow I actually updated. I see this as a win. Also, I was checking all the hermits in game names for the communicator thingy and I just noticed the Scar's is GoodTimeWithScar. No s. But i'm giving his name an s in the name thingys just because. Whoot! Peace~~


	4. What Fools Are For

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hermits meet up and to discuss and plan what the hell is going on.

Stress awoke to the blaring mesa sun gleaming in her eyes through the window, managing the perfect angle to hit her face on the bottom bunk. The ambiance of early morning was washed through the room, when the sunlight felt orange and the world not quite real. Especially in contrast to the night she just had. She knew something was wrong when the dizziness began. It didn’t matter how gently she moved through the snowy plains, waves of disorientation would flood their way in. And she knew that something was very wrong when the howls of the icy wind began seemed to hold screams as well. Screams with no source she could tell. The sound was piercing and unavailing, growing louder each passing moment. And panic threatened to sink in while her vision began to fade at the edges while she rowed over to the Doc’s forest under the call that everyone had to group together. Creeping darkness added in a shadowy vignette to her sight. She could only see half the world by the time she hit shore, head spinning and ringing with the screams. She didn’t even notice her friends calling her name until she felt a hand on her shoulder. Instantly it began to all fade away. The world began clear and stopped spinning along with the screaming fading away to nothing. Although the horride sounds still echoed their memory through her mind. The four of them made their way through the forest to the mesa. A small wooden house sat on top of one of the plateaus, torches helping it glow like a crown and they all fell asleep in the bunk beds squished inside its framework. The warm toned terracotta added to the painting esque environment. She could still hear the soft breathing of Doc and Ren on the other bunk bed under the calls of early birds.

Reluctantly, she began to stretch out of the intoxicatingly warm grasp of soft pillows and sheets and tip toed her way out to the garden. Out front was their small farm growing just enough wheat for them all to have a bit of breakfast. Crouching down to the ground level, she began to cut off the wheat stocks and replant the seeds. She turned back to face east and see the rising sun begin to peak its way over their little home. But she also saw X sitting at the edge of the incline downward. Legs hanging over the edge and arms set back mesmerized by the scenic environment of their surroundings. She quickly harvested up some bread for him as well, as the rest of the wheat had yet to be picked that morning and quietly made her way over offering a soft hello in warning of her approach. He turned around with a warm smile and took the bread offered to him.

“Thank you Stress.”. They sat there for a while in companionship and silence to take in the scene.

“Sometimes I forget just how beautiful the world is.” X spoke softly, breaking the quiet. “To see the sun rise and set. How the sky and land changes from shade to beautiful shade. The rustling of undergrowth as life continues. We can get so consumed trying to create something new, huge and industrial that the simple details like this get overlooked. Thank goodness we have Scar to capture its beauty right?” he smiled.

Stress felt her own grin in reply, “Yeah. It can feel like a whole new world can be born between the morning and the night.”.

Eventually, Ren and Doc woke up and joined the other two to simply enjoy it all. The group of four savouring the silence and chewing on fresh bread.

“Well,” X said, “I supposed we should start heading off the starting island for the meeting today once we are all geared up.”. Before all the hermits went to bed, they decided to hold a meeting at 11 am at the starting island. In theory it would give enough for everyone to adequately prepare and head out to sea. That probably wouldn’t happen if everyone was still separate, but with at least one early bird per group nobody was gonna get a chance to sleep in.

Bags crammed with anything and everything they could think of, they got back into boats to once more face the salty waves and head off to join the rest.

\----

The army of multicoloured boats was a surefire sign that everyone was gathered along with the giant table made of different woods patch worked together with some stairs for everyone to sit on.

“Hello everyone!” X chirped looking around at the many faces, “Well this is strangely formal isn’t it. Usually we just mill around the entire time.”.

“We are professional now!” False grinned, “Just take a gander at this jungle, oak, birch table.”.

“I supposed the first order of business is explaining why we had to have the meeting and have to all stick close together.”. X cleared his throat, despite being good friends with everyone around it was still unsettling to have so many pairs of eyes on him. “I guess I’ll be upfront about it. There is an interdimensional war going on. The creators are fighting against a great darkness that poses a large threat while trying to maintain political stability between the other worlds. With such tall demands, we have to fend for ourselves until this is over.”.

“Why does this mean we have to stick together?” asked xB trying to put together the puzzling and quite frankly mind boggling information.

“Although we are not a hundred percent sure,” Doc explained, “the creator Xisuma was able to contact said we should stay in at least pairs. From what we learned, I think that whatever darkness is trying to invade tries to go after whoever is alone, supposedly because alone our connections to the world are weaker than when we are together. Ask someone who has been touched by it, it doesn’t seem like fun.”.

“Yeah, I got sucked into a whole different world, and a terrible one at that.” Ren stated, seeming to have repressed most of the negative emotions associated with the event.

“Huh, Ren I think you got pulled into the dark a lot faster than the rest of us.” added Etho. “I was also alone, but the only effects were nausea, loss of vision and hearing these screams.”.

“Same here.” Stress pointed. “Ren, did you do something while it was going on. I just sorta tried to block it all out.”

“Well,” Ren started, “when it started I decided to go towards the source of the screams because it felt like they were coming from a direction.”, he explained, shoulders becoming stiff. “Actually, that doesn’t sound too smart when I say it out loud.”.

“Ren you fool!” Iskall cackled, unable to stop himself, “Oh no that really could have been horrible, but what sort of survival instinct is that?”.

“Hey!” Ren spluttered as a weak counterargument, pulling his sunglasses down a bit to hide the growing redness in his cheeks from the embarrassment, “This is not an appropriate time to call me a fool!”.

“It’s always the appropriate time to call you a fool.” Doc chuckled joining Iskall’s laughing fit. A few others let loose a chuckle at the contagious sound echoing about.

“Stress, make them stop.” Ren begged, although beginning to catch the giggle bug as well.

“I don’t think that’s possible.” Stress remarked, his voice tinging with laughter as well.

“Oh come on, did nobody else think to follow the source of the noise.” Ren pleaded desperately.

“No!”, shouted Mumbo, “I would rather have Grian in my redstone than follow that awful noise!”.

“Hey! I’m not that bad anymore.” Grian retorted with a smirk, “Take that back or I’m giving you the potato treatment!”.

Poor Iskall, who was desperately trying to regain his composure, burst out again. “No!”, he managed to spit out between fits, “Anything but the potato treatment!”.

By now the giggle bug had caught everyone around the table. People had their faces in their arms while others clenched their stomach. Nobody knew what they were laughing at by this point, but they couldn’t stop either.

“Oh my goodness,” said a very high pitched Xisuma. “This is the least professional meeting we have ever had and it’s over the most important topic we have ever discussed!”.

Eventually the area quieted back down to only a few light snickers. Everyone had regained their composure and X was ready to keep explaining.

“When I was able to communicate with that one creator, she mentioned that we all have some sort of ability that will be helpful to us all. I’m not quite sure what that means or how to figure out what they are, but they always told me that our bunch was special. And I assume they mean that in a good way.”.

“If they mean it in a bad way we are all screwed.” Beef pointed out.

“Maybe Grian’s special talent is-” Iskall started,

“Nope! We aren’t going down that road again!” Grian interrupted.

“Aww, okay.” Iskall huffed.

“Okay, not joking around. What other things could happen?” asked Cub. “We know of giant evil space forces that can take us down, but what about the lack of world maintenance. If the creators are fighting a war, they can’t exactly help us with the strange happenings that occur.”.

“I guess we'll just have to deal with the problems as they occur.” X observed. “Tango, Zed and Impulse already had a situation we had to deal with.”. All heads turned to the group of three as they explained the nether ravine that they found.

“It’s not spreading right?” Bdubs questioned. “I think that is far beyond our abilities to stop the nether from taking over.”

“It doesn’t appear to have spread.” Tango replied. “We checked this morning and it was just how we left it, just with a bit more grass.”.

“That's good.” X sighed. “That worry was tugging in the back of my mind as well. If there are no more questions or ideas, I guess we should organize ourselves into pairs or groups to keep each other safe from the evil dimension situation.”.

“And it would be fine if we trade ourselves around right?” Bdubs asked, “No offense to anyone, but it doesn’t seem practical to only be around one person. And besides, I don’t want to drag someone around if they could stay in one place with others for a while.”.

“Yeah, that makes sense.” X noted. “I’ll have to made a separate area on the communicator with a spreadsheet of who is with who. Just to keep things a bit organized.”. They all seemed to agree the sentiment. Dragging someone around as they worked on a project with another person didn’t sound like the most convenient thing to do, but they still needed to have a main group to base with. So spreadsheet it is.

Everyone began to group themselves together as base buddies. X joined Doc and Etho, knowing that him and Doc would be working together quite a lot to figure out the logistics of the whole situation, and besides, Doc was a lot better at configuring the communicator than X was. Keralis, Beef and Bdubs got themselves groups together for what can only be assumed would become the fanciest base of them all. Tango, Impulse and Zedaph staying in their group of three. Hypno, xB and TFC got themselves teamed up and ready to transform themselves a base from bedrock up. And the last group of three would be Iskall, Ren and Stress who couldn’t at all decide on a base location. Instead deciding to spin in circles and go wherever they ended up facing.

In groups of two were Jevin and False who followed the previous groups decision in base location picking by spinning around themselves. Joe and Cleo teamed up to head back to into the savannah. Cub and Scar went to Scar’s mountain after Scar convinced Cub with minimal effort that he could make the coolest cliff ever. Grian and Mumbo also headed back to the mountains, but instead to where the mountains and plains met. With every group off in at least a direction together, the small island began to clear for a second time since its creation. There was much to do for all.

\----

Black ink dripped down Ren’s hands leaving midnight droplets onto the sandy floor. He whipped the dark mess onto the stone wall in front of him. An abstract collage of lines and swirls escaping from a central point.

“Ren, you look absolutely omega insane.” Iskall smirked.

“How else am I supposed to draw out how it all looked?” Ren shot back.

“With some flint and paper!” Stress laughed.

“But then it wouldn’t have the correct vibes.” Ren explained. “It can’t capture how that world looked and it needs to be as accurate as possible.”.

The group had decided to stay on the island instead of rushing off like the rest so Ren could try and illustrate what he saw while under the influence of The Evil. Keralis had also joined them in watching Ren’s artistic ventures while his group mates, Bdubs and Beef, engaged in discussion he quite frankly did not understand with X and his group.

“So the possibility of a double war is possible?” X asked.

“More like quite likely.” Beef sighed. “The creators of the Mindcrack world were intense, to put it nicely. Don’t get me wrong I loved it there, it was amazing to live in, but they were extremely controlling. They’ll likely take this opportunity to catch another world like it’s a pokemon.”.

“What about the world Grian was from?” Etho asked. “What about the creators of that one since he has a strong connection and all.”.

“Oh yeah the EVO world.” X stated. “I asked him before he went running off. All he said was that they were super chill with no concern. And he has mentioned they are a very relaxed group. So I think we are safe on that front.”.

“Why does he have to join us in the stronghold then?” Bdubs questioned. “It’s not like it's the most fun place to be and if there aren’t creators actively trying to pull him into their world, can't he stay on the surface with everyone else?”.

“Well he used to be the main conduit for that world like I am for this one. So even if the creators of that universe aren’t pulling him in, he will just sorta float that way and ping pong back to our world.” X explained.

“We are being attacked by two groups.” Doc murmured to collect his thoughts. “The darkness, evil, black spots or whatever we will call it and the Crack Creators.”.

“Don’t call it that.” Etho sighed as Beef and Bdubs instantly started giggling at the name.

“Fine,” Doc said, rolling his eyes. “The Evil and the CC. How's that?”.

“Perfect!” Beef smiled.

“Ok, let me continue then.” Doc said trying to jump back onto his previous train of thought. “With our creators busy doing the heavy lifting of this war we will have world issues like glitchy ravine. I think that listening to your gut would be the best thing to do in finding this special ability that one creator talked about. Unless anyone else has any ideas on how to figure that out.”.

“No ideas here.” Etho sighed. “So our giant plan on that front is to just figure it out?”

“Basically.” X replied defeatedly. “And looking at Ren’s depiction of where The Evil took him to help us get a better idea to research what we are up against.”.

“It’s done!” Ren called out. “Check out this masterpiece baby!”.

The group turned to the others who surrounded a strangely marked rock.

“Ren your hands!” Doc exclaimed, pointing at the black stains covering the man's hands with black marks spider-webbing up his arms.

“Is it happening again?” X sputtered. Iskall and Stress burst out laughing in the background.

Huffing, Ren explained, “No it’s squid ink and it won’t wash off. I was using it to draw what I saw.”.

“Well why didn’t you just use a flint and paper?” X asked, going from concerned to puzzled.

The background laugher grew louder as Ren looked more annoyed. “Will nobody appreciate the efforts of an artist! It was the best way to capture the world!”.

“Well, it looks like caveman paintings.” Bdubs noted, glancing at the black stained boulder.

“Will you guys just be quiet and let me explain!”.

“Okay then Ren. What is that?”.

“Thank you X.” Ren pointed at the stone. It was covered in lines and swirls above the horizon line that split the canvas. The straight lines stood as straight as palm trees and the swirls seem to all originate from a central location on the horizon line. Ren pointed to that point, “That's where the shouts were the loudest. But they came from these weird energies which I represented with the swirls. It felt like there were barriers making me go in a forward direction when in reality there was nothing at all around there, only energies that completely messes with sense of direction.” .

“Why did you even think to follow that?”, Doc questioned. “And Stress, Etho, since you guys were also alone at the time, how similar was the experience?”.

“No, the screams came from no direction at all.” Stress answered.

“Same here.” Etho replied, gears churning.

“I don’t know!” sighed Ren. “It was just a gut instinct. I heard the voices and then woke up under that tree.”.

“Wait,” Etho jumped in. “Did you start out under that tree?”.

“No, I was mining out in a cave and after following the sound, Doc woke me up under a tree. It was really strange.”.

“What if you really are following The Evil.” Etho pointed out.

“Huh?”

“We were talking, and came to the conclusion that the best way of finding whatever talent we have is to just follow instinct. Maybe yours is finding The Evil’s strongest point of connection to our planet.” Etho explained out his thinking.

“How do I even feel that though?” Ren asked, baffled.

“Time may tell, for now try not to do anything super stupid and if you feel something happening tell Stress and Iskall.”.

“Huh, ok. See I’m not as much of a fool as you lot believe me to be!” Ren celebrated. “Take that you goofy goobers!”

\----

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea how I ended up stretching this out into 3000 words there is only like tWO things that happen. But I'm happy with Ren's mini redemption ark. Also, tHANK YoU guys for being so nice aflsjk


	5. Adventure Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adventure time, come on grab your friends. We’ll go to very distant lands. Ren the dog and Iskall the Human. The fun will never end! It’s adventure time!

“So you finally stopped by for a visit?” the distorted voice of Exy broke through to his brother. Xisuma blinked out the hazy that came with transportation to the void realm. The land between somewhere and nowhere the two called home. The usual silky black of the realm appeared jagged and torn as Xisuma looked around. They were on the roof of their shared home in the Void. Exy had chests sprawled around and it seemed he was adding another addition to the patchwork wonderland that housed every new block the two could get their hands on.

“What happened here?” he questioned. The jagged edges of lightness that broke the otherwise monotone darkness of the void above could almost be beautiful if it’s implications weren’t so menacing.

“God war gone extra violent. Some of their weapons are tearing their way through the void and fall into the abyss.” Exy said a bit too calmly for the horror of that statement.

“I thought it would be getting bad here, but not this bad.” X mumbled taking in the surroundings of the war torn sky. The light patches were visibly being patched up by the dark ooze that was the void, but by the look of things the land couldn’t repair itself as fast as it was being destroyed.

“So you definitely know what’s going on.” X stated, trying to meet his brother's eyes from behind the protective glass of their helmets.

“Well, it’s hard to ignore the sound shockwaves of godforsaken bombs and heavenly bodies flying past my head.” the crackling distorted voice replied back. Looking around, X saw the land of the Void, the realm between somewhere and nowhere was feeling the toils of war. The void was visibly patching itself up, the living darkness squirming around to cover the tears through it.

“That sounds. Less than pleasant.” X empathized, worriedly looking around the land they called home.

“It really is.” the red clad figure admitted with little emotion to reveal anything else about the situation. He stared into the void beneath his feet, acting as if he were a robot instead of the metal just being a shell.

“Well how would you like a second chance.”. That got Exy’s attention, he went from lollygagging over a chest of items to facing his twin.

“I’m listening.”.

The other shifted, mildly uncomfortable at the unwavering gaze. “It’s not exactly safe in the void right now, and I need your help in the hermit world.”

“You didn’t change the stupid sounding name, but I’m still listening.”.

“With your past actions while in the world, there will have to be some arrangements made. First off, you always have to be around me. I can send you back here just as easily as I got here, and now we have a flower mage. Also it’s a nice name.”

“What demon decided a flower mage could exist!”, the other sputtered in reply.

“My goodness, try to be a little positive. After all these years I still don’t understand your fear of flowers.” X slumped, getting only a grumble in response.

“You don’t understand a lot.” Then Exy cocked his head to the side, “Why are you even giving me a second chance?”.

X raised an eyebrow at the first statement, but chose not to jump down that rabbithole. “We are stronger together, you know that. And up in the hermit world we needs all the strength we can get.”

Exy grinned, eyes glinting with mischief, “That’s it huh? Tell the full truth.”.

X raised his eyebrow again, but he could feel the words rumbling in his gut. Then as if attached to a fishing rod they flew out. “I miss you and I don’t want you getting hurt. It can be so lonely and I have a difficult time trusting anybody. I know I can trust you because we have so many cards against each other and so much time in the past together as well. I’m solving three problems in one bring you back. I can see that you are safe, be less lonely and have more power to fight off The Evil.” X blabbered, then stared at his brother stunned. “How the hell did you do that?”.

Exy smiled. “Awww, so you did miss me. And in my time down here, I’ve learned that we’re even more powerful than you even thought. I’ve got more cards now.”.

X rubbed his shoulder, trying to rid the uncomfortable feeling of magic ripping words out of his body. His lungs felt even more empty somehow, as if they were filled with foreign air.

“Well I guess you know the full truth now whether I like it or not, so what do you say?”.

Exy laughed again. “That despite huh? Yes, I’ll join your hermit world.”.

“Well then grab on.” X held up his right forearm crossed across his body, his brother gripping on and pulling himself close. X could see the smirk in his twin’s eyes. The other finally had the upperhand in conversation now.

“Going up.” Xisuma stated. The void answered it’s call, wrapping cold liquid fingers around the two and dragging them back to Hermit World.

The two stumbled into the makeshift kitchen where the Void unceremoniously dropped from them from the ceiling as if trying to escape the world as fast as it could. A dumb founded Doc and Etho stared at the two.

“Welcome back Xisuma and clone?” Etho asked puzzled.

“Where were you?” Doc sputtered. “We are supposed to be sticking together! We had no idea what happened to you and were just able to send a message to the others about your disappearance which would have freaked them the hell out!”.

“Uh, sorry about that. I forgot time does strange things when your in the void.” Xisuma explained rubbing the back of his head apologetically.

“ _In_ the void?” Doc asked, throwing his arms up into the air.

“Questions for another time.” Etho added. “Questions for now, who’s this new fellow.”.

“Oh yeah, meet my brother Exy! He _will_ be helping us with this problem.”.

“Hello.” Exy grumbled with the distortion on, making the other two jump a little.

“Care to turn off the distortion?” Xisuma sighed.

“I turn off distortion when I want to turn off distortion.” Exy argued, crossing his arms.

“Well okay then.”.

Xisuma glanced down at his communicator as it vibrated in it’s sleeve on his leg.

**Stressmonster101 to Xisuma:  
<Stressmonster101> hey! I can help with those special flowers now if you want.  
<Xisuma> that would be amazing. I need that batch of flowers that you used to knock Iskall unconsious  
<Stressmonster101> o.0 doc that annoying already?  
<Xisuma> not yet! might as well be prepared ;) meet at spawn in an hour?  
<Stressmonster101> good with me!**

X slipped the small device back in it’s sleeve and turned back to Doc and Etho.

“I need to go meet up with Stress at spawn in a bit, I'll bring Exy with me so we abide by the pairs rule.” Xisuma explained.

“Uh, okay. Geez we can’t keep this guy in one spot Doc.” Etho commented.

“No kidding. We should probably ask someone to start a nether hub as well so we can all get around faster.” Doc replied.

“Oh, that’s a good idea. Guess we should request it in chat.” X smiled. “Then I can run around even faster!”.

“Great.” Etho laughed.

**< Xisuma> if anybody is settled down and has the time. could they start up the nether hub? it should be a good community project since staying connected is so important right now.  
<Zedaph> we can!!!  
<Xisuma> wow you guys are really the nether trio! there will be some extreme changes by the creators and possibly some things wrong  
<ImpulseSV> indeed we are!  
<TangoTekgt; noted  
<Xisuma> thanks a ton you guys :D  
**

“Exy and I should probably head out now!” X commented.

Doc groaned, “There is no stopping you is there?”.

“Nope. I’m off!” Xisuma grinned as he dragged his brother out to sea.

\----

Stress looked up from her communicator and shoved it into her back pocket before picking up the bouquet of flowers just as Iskall rounded the corner. His expression went from calm to panicked the second he laid eyes on the flowers.

“Hey, hey! I’ve learnt my lesson and have decided I need better coping mechanisms for stressful situations. No more surprise sleep..” he panicked.

“Sorry! Didn’t mean to give you a fright there love.” Stress laughed. “I’ll be handing these off to X, he needs them for some reason.” she shrugged. “And I’m glad you came to your senses that violence is not the answer.”.

Iskall sighed, and relaxed. “It’s okay, thanks for making me not a mad man. How did you even know what flowers to get and where?” he asked.

Stress considered the question for a moment. “I’m not sure really. Just a nagging gut feeling that it’s what had to be done. Didn’t know it would be so effective or so magical.”.

Iskall went silent for a moment. “I think I have that same gut feeling.” That really got Stress’s attention.

“Really? Just follow it!” Stress jumped up.

But Iskall winced. “The gut feeling is a lot more stupid though. I can’t shake the feeling that I need to dig to some specific coordinates a thousand blocks away. I don’t have the exact numbers but can feel the location.”.

“Well, gather some wood and some food because that sounds like an adventure worth having.” Stress grinned. “We just need to firstly tell Ren then head out after delivering the flowers to Xisuma!”.

Iskall blinked, not expecting Stress to be so enthusiastic about the strange statement. “Well okay then, I’ll go get him if you set up the boats.”.

“Deal.” Stress walked off in the direction of the spawn island, groaning as she undid knots tied just only the night before so the boats were free floating and ready to be hopping into. She double checked her bags to make sure there was sufficient supplies. Food, wood, a bit of extra iron and most importantly the flowers they were about to deliver.

“Adventure time, come on grab your friends. We’ll go to very distant lands.” Iskall hummed, peaking into their house.

“Ren the dog and Iskall the Human. The fun will never end! It’s adventure time!” Ren continued the song.

After quickly grabbing supplies of their own, they headed off to meet Stress at the boats and once more head off into the sea.

\----

“Where’s the fun in this world if you can stab things?” Cleo laughed, throwing her sword so it buried itself in the side of the house with the thud and a rattle. An iron sword plunged in the side of a building seemed to match the strong wild west vibes of the mesa. Red sunlight glinted off the hilt, still shaking from the force of impact.

Joe shook his head from behind the bloodthirsty zombie he called a best friend, “Sometimes I worry for my safety. And your sanity.” He stopped to consider the statement. “In correlation my sanity as well.”.

Bright orange hair flipped as Cleo turned to look him straight in the eyes, grinning like a maniac. “As you should be.” she confirmed. Skipping back to the house and pulling the sword out of the wall and spinning around.

“It just needs a few battle scars that’s all!”.

\----

“So you are forcing me to meet the flower mage?” Exy asked, arms crossed on the back of the boat.

“Yes.”

“Why are you like this.”.

X rolled his eyes, “I still don’t get that fear of yours. She’s a very nice person yknow. I’m sure you would get along.”. He could hear groaning from the back.

“When have I gotten along with anyone?”

“A solid three people sometimes.”. The groans continued until they reached the dingy little starter island.

It only took a few minutes of waiting before two more boats appeared on the horizon. Stress led the way with Iskall and Ren close behind bickering and grinning.

“ ‘Ello there X and friend!” she waved docking the boat on the shore before hopping onto the sandy shore. X gave a friendly wave as well, holding up his brother's hand and waving it for the other. Then there was a scream and a splash.

Iskalls signature rolling laughter rang out above Ren’s frenzied splashing.

“My dude,” Ren spluttered. “why would you capsize your own boat?”

Iskall only laughed harder, padding towards the shore alongside his friend. “Because I thought it would be funny. It was funny.”.

The soaked pair joined the rest of them on now less dry land.  
Exy stared at his brother wide eyed. _These people of all people. Fools of all fools?_ being silently communicated between the two of them. Behind purple visor, the expressions rang out in response _It’s all in good fun. You did this to me too._

“Ah, well seen as the more unconventional of our trio have made it. I’ll be handing out the special delivery.” Stress told X, fishing out the bundle of flowers. The flowers were gently wrapping in a small leather satchel of their own, containing the pollen from bursting out on to all of them. Xisuma accepted gratefully, his brother grunting much less so.

Iskall seemed to finally process the other man standing there. “Hey wait, aren’t you that evil guy? What’s he doing back here?”.

The ‘evil guy’ shot the soaked cyborg with a raised eyebrow and steely glare.

“He’s my brother and twin, Exy. He’s here to help us out with everything going on. And these flowers are here to help me force him to cooperate if need be.”.

“Oh!” Stress laughed, “I think Doc had gotten on your nerves after only a day!”.

Xisuma smiled back, “Oh no, I think Doc might use them on me actually to stop me running all over the place.”.

“Speaking of running all over the place, we are going to head out in hot pursuit of Iskalls spidey senses.” Ren commented, shaked his hair off to dry.

“You guys stay safe out there.” Xisuma replied. “There are still strange happenings going on.”.

“We will!” Stress smiled. Waving and heading back to their docked and capsized boats. As the twins headed towards their own.

“See they are nice!” said the man, eyes shining happily behind the purple visor.

“The girl, yes. I don’t think I’d trust the other two.” the other replied, hopping into the back of the boat.

“Iskall has strange ways of dealing with his Stress. But he’s doing much better off than before.” X replied.

“Let’s just get to the house so I can wip all this sea spray of my visor.”.

“Agreed.”.

\----

Across the sea, the so-called Nether trio gathered around an unlit obsidian rectangle. The shape seemed much more foreboding than it usually did with the uncertainty that lay behind it. Impulse nervously spun the flint and steel around his fingers staring idly at the aforementioned portal before shaking his head. “I guess we should lit ‘er up.” he stated.

The words seemed to snap the other two out of their paralyzing worry that seemed to always be lingering. “It’s time to put on the big boy pants!” Zedaph replied. Making extra room for Impulse to step up the portal frame.

The brunette leaned down so the flint and steel was closer to the obsidian before hitting and scrapping the two together hard, sending the sparks flying. The instant orange sparks hit the obsidian, the portal flourished to life with a grand purple whoosh.

“Ey we did it!” Zed chuckled. “Professionals!”.

“Step one complete. Here goes nothing.”. Tango responded. With less hesitation than would be considered normal or safe for the uncertain conditions held behind the portal, he jumped straight into the swirling purple haze and disappeared into its grasp.

“Oi, wait for us!” Impulse chuckled. He stowed away the flint and steel, checking that he had enough extra obsidian for a portal just incase before leaping in with the other following close behind.

The two emerged on what was luckily a very safe platform far from any lava oceans waiting to scoop up its next victim. But the normal red dreary wasteland of the nether was not what met their eyes. Instead they found themselves surrounded by giant green mushrooms and vegetation. From the mushrooms hung beautiful glowing lights that illuminated gravity defying ivy and grass littering the ground.

“I remember X said that the nether would be different in the new world. But I didn’t expect this.”. Tango spoke jaw dropped.

“This better not be a glitch in the matrix, because I like it too much.”. Impulse agreed, taking in their surroundings.

“What in the world is that?” Zed shouted, breaking the short lived ambiance. Hidden in the mushroom forest were humanoid pigs, but they did seem zombified at all. Turning at the sudden noise, one of the pigs charged the group.

“Ah! Bribery bribery!” he yelped, throwing a piece of gold at the thing as the other two branished swords. Surprisingly, the humanoid pig stopped in it’s rampage to pick up the offering. He inspected and admired the piece of ore mesmerized by the way it shined.

“I had a good idea for once!” the springy blonde celebrated. The pig thing ignored the banter, throwing some leather on the ground before shoving the piece of gold in a bag for safe keeping. As soon as the metal disappearing into the sack, the pigs attentional turned straight to the intruders and he charged again. Instead this time, he was met with several stabs to the gut and embrace of death. With an ear piercing shriek, the pig fell to the ground dead. But the trouble wasn’t over yet. A series of snorts and shrieks could be heard from just over the hill, and they sounded vengeful.

Staring horrified at the hill Tango quickly suggested, “Maybe we should hope home now. Now now.”.

“I agree!” Zed yelped jumping back into the purple vortex quickly followed by his two comerades as angry ears just begun to peak over the edge of the hill. The three stumbled out of the portal and onto the welcoming grass of the overworld.

“What in the fiery red nether was that?” Impulse blinked. “Talk about upgrades.”.

“No kidding.” Tango responded “But maybe we should talk about how to make the nether tunnels without getting our faces eaten first.”.

“True.” Impulse agreed thinking about the problem at hand. “We should probably box ourselves into the portal as soon as we teleport out so we can’t be attacked. Then whack them from where they can’t reach us.”

“One patrol, two speed builders?”.

“That would be good.”.

“What about shiny boots?” Zedaph added in.

They two stared confused at the suggestion. “Has Xisuma already started selling suspicious stews?” Tango asked.

“No no! I think we should do a bit of science. Stick with Impulses plan of greatness and safety, but with golden armor on. If they like the gold so much maybe they will like us if we have it on!” he explained.

“Or they will try and kill us to take the armor.” the brunette added in.

“Well, I don’t think they can kill us any faster than they already tried. Doesn’t hurt to try!” Zedaph pointed out.

“He does have a point.” Tango agreed. “And when have we ever shied away from a bit of science?”.

Impulse gave that a regretful grin, “Much less than would fit safety regulations would consider sane.”.

“Then plans a go?” Zedaph grinned.

“Lets collect up some blocks and craft up that armor. Then plan is a go.” Impulse finalized.

“Yes! Science for the win!”.

\----

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof not the best, but I didn’t want to leave it on a cliffhanger for a month. Just almost a month (sweats nervously oops). I couldn’t help myself with the Adventure Time little snip-bit, the thought made me laugh a lot. Same with the random short Cleo and Joe one. Hopefully the next chapter will be posted much quicker aaa! Thanki! TWO MONTHS WAIT ASFSL SORRY


End file.
